


Undaunted

by trashwriter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aged-Up Pidge | Katie Holt, Aliens Made Them Do It, Alpha Keith (Voltron), Alpha Pidge | Katie Holt, Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, BAMF Lana McClain, Beta Hunk (Voltron), Developing Relationship, Exhibitionism, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Female Hunk (Voltron), Female Lance (Voltron), First Kiss, Getting Together, Langst, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Mutually Unrequited, Omega Lance (Voltron), Polyamory Negotiations, Polydins, Public Nudity, Public Sex, Sharing a Bed, Team as Family, Timeline What Timeline, Women Being Awesome, completely and utterly self-indulgent universe, for the mission, the one where pidge is the oldest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:35:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21729160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashwriter/pseuds/trashwriter
Summary: The Appaxi people of Pax welcome the Paladins of Voltron to their planet in order for the Omega Imperia to entertain the idea of joining the Coalition of Allied Systems. It's an alliance that could save hundreds of thousands of lives and solidify the Coalition's foothold in the sector.Unfortunately, the strict and blatantly sexual nature of the Appaxi court leaves Lana high and dry stepping into a role she's in no way prepared for and forces the Paladins to confront the idea that there might be more between them than just the mission.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura/Hunk (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro, Keith/Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance/Shiro (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro
Comments: 33
Kudos: 172





	1. Chapter 1

Allura worried her lower lip between her teeth and tapped one carefully manicured nail on the edge of the console, deliberating.

On the view screen a map of the XX system was enlarged and spinning, a real-time representation of the orbiting bodies ahead of them. Two of the planets in the system were haloed in a blue aura information about their ecology, geology, and inhabitants scrolling through on a loop on the nearest terminal.

Voltron had just had a relatively successful negotiation with the Nexian people who were willing to defence the hyperspace lane and co-ordinate a supply line with the other systems in the Coalition in this sector in exchange for a regular supply of elerion root.

Elerion root extract was one of the chemotherapeutic components that made Altean healing pods so effective against infections and cancers and there was a supply of the compound on the Castleship in it’s refined form, but to give the entire supply to the Nexians would be the height of foolishness when there were two planets in system where the root could be harvested.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t get why we’re even having this debate – Pax is the closest,” Pidge pointed out irritably. “The plant is native to the planet and the Appaxi are space-faring, all we’d have to do is negotiate the export to Nex alongside the usual terms for joining the Coalition. If the Nexians can’t negotiate directly Voltron can just represent their interests.”

“I have to agree with Pidge, Princess,” Shiro said. “The Nexians might not have anything to trade for the root directly but the protection that Voltron and the Coalition offers should be enough to at least get them to talk terms.”

Allura sighed heavily and turned to face the assembled Paladins and Coran.

“Normally I would agree with you both,” Allura said. “But unfortunately, a negotiation with the Appaxi people, any negotiation, is likely to be difficult and uncomfortable at best. In the past, Altea did try to make contact with the Appaxi simply because the elerion root has such powerful healing properties, but after the first attempt it was deemed unwise to continue negotiations, particularly once Altean alchemists found a way to utilize quintessence to synthesize and refine the compound in the root that makes it such an effective agent.”

“The society that evolved shapeshifting abilities to be better diplomats disengaged from negotiations with these guys? That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” said Honey, laughing a little nervously.

“Why _did_ they stop negotiations?” asked Shiro.

Allura flushed slightly and settled her hands on her hips in an attempt to feel more professional.

“The Appaxi are very strict in their practices, and they expect any and all negotiations with off-worlders to happen more or less on the same terms that they would happen on Pax. At the time the Council of Altea was quite conservative in their views and the ambassadors’ discomfort in the Appaxi court caused considerable strain.”

“I mean, unless it’s fights to the death or something, we can afford to accommodate their preferences, can’t we?” said Shiro. “We’ve done plenty of strange things in the name of the Coalition before. We can keep an open mind.”

“That’s true of course, but I believe that the…intricacies of an Appaxi treaty might be a little much to ask of you all.”

“Alright, can we stop beating around the bush here?” Keith interjected from where he was propping up a wall. “What exactly would we have to do to negotiate successfully with these guys?”

“Well the most uncomfortable aspect would probably be engaging in and bearing witness to the numerous and varied public sex acts the court requires,” Coran put in brightly. “But there’s also the fact that all the negotiation would have to be done entirely through Number Four.”

“Public sex acts,” sputtered Honey.

“What do you mean _I_ have to negotiate?” demanded Lana.

“The Appaxi people are a society built from tragedy,” Allura explained. “When the Cattenii people controlled this sector of the galaxy, they used to transport omega slaves through these hyperspace lanes. The first Omega Imperia of Pax was a pleasure slave who crashed her master’s ship into the planet’s surface and started the colony that grew into the society we see today.”

“The whole Appaxi culture is based around sex, objectification and dynamic,” Coran added. “It’s truly a fascinating ethos to study, one of the only places in the sector where omegas have more social standing than alphas.”

“More than that, the prevailing feeling on Pax is that the role of the alpha is based in physicality. In the minds of the Appaxi an alpha is good for only two things: sex and violence. They must be well-controlled by their omegas and any outburst can be justification for barbaric punishments.”

“And by barbaric you mean…”

“Castration in most cases, chemical or physical depending on the severity of the blunder,” Coran explained.

“Although I suspect we could get around some of the more…er, graphic acts, the fact of the matter is that the majority of us would have no voice on Pax. We would be there as Lana’s attendants only,” Allura said, “And the alphas would be expected to…to service their omega.”

Silence fell over the bridge.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Keith said through grit teeth.

“No, no, we’re quite serious,” Coran said with his usual disregard for the mood.

“That’s a monumentally big ask, even if it is for, y’know, Voltron and the Coalition,” Honey said. “Like, I don’t know about this, guys. It might be better to just take the extra time to mine the root off Ooex and deliver it to the Nexians.”

“How unlike you Number Two,” said Coran. “I thought for sure you’d be the most eager to avoid the Ooexien skritters.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Pidge hissed.

“Language,” Shiro said, without much force behind it.

“What the _fuck_ are skritters?” Pidge continued.

“Mm, well those would be the voracious flesh-eating pseudo-arachnid parasites that keep that world uncolonized even though it is the most temperate in the system.”

“Great, so our options are to screw around with Lana in a public forum, in front of people who think we’re no better than walking, talking knotting-dildos, or risk being eaten by spiders.”

“An accurate summary, Number Five,” Coran agreed. “Either way, I will, of course, be staying with the Castle to facilitate repairs.”

“And, on second thought,” Honey said, raising her hand. “Yeah, I would really prefer to have, totally platonic hetero-lesbian relations with my bestie, thanks, okay.”

“And I would rather play planetary exterminator,” Keith grumbled.

The rest of the Paladins pulled faces but they didn’t exactly jump up to declare a preference either way.

Lana snorted.

“Really feeling the love here, guys,” she muttered, trying to ignore the sharp sting of rejection.

“Are those really our only two options, Princess?” Shiro asked a little pained. 

“I’m afraid so,” Allura said, apologetically. “And while I too, have no real qualms about negotiating with the Appaxi in this fashion, I could not in good conscience ask you to go along with it. Not when it will be yourself, Shiro, and Keith and Pidge who will be scrutinized alongside Lana. As a beta and a null-dynamic Honey and I will largely be ornamental servitors.”

“Ugh,” Pidge groaned and rubbed at her face under her glasses. “Fine, whatever, I can bang Lana for the good of the mission.”

“Again, with the love Pidgey,” Lana said fluttering her eyelashes dramatically.

“And what about you, Lana? Can we rely on you to be the voice of Voltron in this?” Allura said pointedly.

In other words, can we trust you not to screw up and cause an interplanetary incident, Lana translated.

“Anything for the mission, Princess,” Lana said, with an ease she didn’t really feel, shooting some finger-guns just to really sell it.

Of course, they could rely on her, she’d do her best for the team, whatever they asked. But she just wasn’t sure she could really deliver on this one. Sure, if anyone on this team had to play sexed-up harem keeper for the good of the mission Lana was probably the best choice. But, like Honey said, it was still a big ask.

They usually left the diplomacy to Allura and Shiro, sometimes to Honey if the aliens in question responded to sweet and loveable goodwill instead of terrifying militant efficiency. Usually it was Lana _causing_ diplomatic incidents, either by virtue of being an outspoken omega or by virtue of being a pain in Keith’s surly but impeccably formed ass.

It was sheer bravado that kept her hands from shaking at even the thought of taking on that much responsibility.

“Lana’s right,” sighed Shiro. “As little as I like the idea of putting ourselves on display like this, the Nexian people need that root, and the Coalition needs strong allies in this sector.”

“Now, now, it shouldn’t be as bad as all that,” said Coran. “As off-worlders you won’t be required to participate with more than cursory displays of affection. A few provocative garments and a little suggestive contact and you’ll be left as rain as you Earthlings say!”

“Coran is fortunately correct,” Allura said. “The most important aspect of this charade is to demonstrate that Lana has complete loyalty from her alphas so that the Omega Imperia can be assured that if they were to join the Coalition that Voltron would always hear the voices of omegas.”

“I think that’s a sentiment we can all get behind,” Shiro agreed with a determined smile. “Keith, what do you think?”

Keith sighed, but he uncrossed his arms.

“If this is really what we have to do, I can do it,” he said grudgingly.

“Well then, I suppose we’re decided,” Allura said, blinking a bit as though she was surprised by how smoothly the process had gone. “All that is left is to contact the Appaxi off-world embassy and see if the current Omega Imperia and their court will receive us this movement.”

“And I’ll see if I can’t hunt down the field notes from Altea’s last attempt at contact, and make sure the synthesizers are calibrated!” Coran said, fiddling with the edge of his moustache.

“Which leaves the rest of us to get some rest and brainstorm for the mandatory talk about boundaries we’ll be having tomorrow after breakfast,” Shiro said firmly.

Pidge pulled another face, and stood up.

“Come on Honey, we’re gonna need stealth comms and somewhere to put our bayards.”

“Ooh, engineering binge, sounds like fun,” said Honey trailing after them.

“I’ll be on the training deck,” Keith announced.

“Give me half an hour and I’ll join you,” Shiro called to his retreating back, receiving a wave of acknowledgement as Keith slipped out the door.

Lana stood and stretched.

“I guess I’ll go find Coran then, get a head start on the required readings,” she said, going for flippant.

She might have fallen a little bit short because Shiro stopped her retreat with a hand on her arm.

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” he said quietly. “I know it’s for Voltron but we’ve never asked you for anything like this before.”

Lana quirked a fond half-smile at their fearless leader.

“Shouldn’t that be my line?” she said softly. “You’re the one who’s going to have to play fuck-toy this time, not me.”

Shiro pulled a face at her language but didn’t scold her for once.

“You’re going to have to be very hands on with us, with me, with Pidge…with Keith,” he said meaningfully.

Lana fought the urge to laugh but she couldn’t quite hold in her grin.

“Relax, fearless leader,” she said. “You’re all gorgeous alphas in your own ways and I trust you with my life, even Keith. It’s the actual diplomacy I’m worried about.”

Shiro, miracle of miracles, did relax then. Giving her shoulder a squeeze.

“Alright, as long as you’re sure,” he said.

“I’m sure,” Lana said. “I’ve got this. Y’know, mostly.”

“Go find Coran then,” he said. “I’ll listen in with the Princess and let you know what I hear, if anything.”

Lana was filled with a fondness for her hero and her leader.

Impulsively she stood on tiptoe for a moment to nose briefly at the scent gland under his jaw to acknowledge him, muttering a quiet, "Thanks, Shiro," before slipping out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Lana knew that Coran was probably already holed up in the record’s room with half-a-dozen viewscreens open but rather than heading straight there she decided to duck into the map-room and take a well-deserved time-out to panic.

“What the hell am I thinking,” she muttered to the empty room, bracing her hands on the console where she and Coran had been blown up at the start of this whole Voltron adventure, and letting her head hang heavy between her shoulders.

This was pathetic on a whole new level.

Was she really so desperate to be useful to the team that she was going to take the lead on a diplomatic mission with a bonus option of taking advantage of the situation to give her hot, competent alpha teammates public boners?

Apparently, the answer was yes, she was exactly that self-serving.

Ugh, gross.

And she’d been doing so well, too. She’d gone a full thirty days without shamelessly begging for attention and acknowledgement. She hadn’t bragged about her shooting over the comms, she hadn’t challenged Keith to pointless competitions that she was destined to lose, she hadn’t flirted with Allura or objectified Shiro’s flawless body and she kept out of the kitchen and the hanger while Honey was working and didn’t whine about how homesick she was or how much she wanted the alphas on the ship to like her.

She’d been so good too, on the mission to Nex. She’d stayed out of everyone’s way during the diplomacy, caused a total of zero incidents and had spent her days on-planet helping Coran in the med bay and being useful.

She’d been so proud of herself for holding back when she made it to the end of the week and yet here she was just leaping at the excuse to get back in the limelight and underfoot.

If she was a better person she’d march back in there, tell Allura that they should really do the whole system a favour and make a dent in those flesh eating space spiders, but she wasn’t going to do any of that of course because she’d told Shiro she could do it and he’d squeezed her shoulder.

He believed in her, the stupid alpha.

Which of course meant that she would do her best, bend over backwards, sideways and upside down and get this treaty signed if it killed her.

She sighed heavily but straightened up.

No more self-pity, she reminded herself. She was turning over a new, less needy leaf and that meant sucking it up and handling her own shit.

She turned, prepared to march out of the map room and head straight for Coran this time when her personal comm pinged to let her know she was receiving a transmission to her private line.

She accepted the transmission and grinned at the cheerful Nexian face that filled the holo-projected viewscreen.

“Lana!” trilled the Nexi in lieu of a proper greeting. “You’re still in the system! I’m glad!”

“Yeah, me too squirt,” Lana said fondly.

“I am not a that,” she protested. “I am fourteen cycles! I am almost fully grown!”

“And yet still so short,” teased Lana. “What’s up, Arti? Do you need me to pass on a message from the Councilwoman?”

“No, no,” Arti said, flicking her long ears back dismissively. “Nothing like that. Mother is busy organizing the relay satellites and I have been helping to modify the cloaking system, everything proceeds well.”

“Shouldn’t you be resting?” Lana said.

Arti let out another snort, “And sit in a med wing somewhere being useless for the next however-long? I’d tear my fur out from boredom after the first movement. Besides, I feel fine.”

“All the more reason to save your strength for when you don’t feel fine anymore,” Lana said, trying not to let her worry show on her face.

“Nonsense, I have faith that you will return long before I reach that stage of the illness.”

Arti was the daughter of the Grand-Councilwoman of Nex and she had hung around the med bay with her and Coran peppering Lana with questions about Voltron and Terra and the rest of the Galaxy while making use of the Castle’s lab facilities, like the tiny genius she was. A regular Pidge in the making.

She was also very sick, although the disease was still in the early stages.

Every cycle on Nex about thirty percent of the population succumbed to an incredibly virulent planetwide pandemic, Arti had been diagnosed just before Voltron had arrived in-system and was a big part of the reason that Councilwoman Tarthi was being so accommodating.

Voltron had promised to get their hands on the elerion root that was a key component in the only anti-viral that actually worked on the Nexian Plague, and Allura had turned over the blueprints for an Altean synthesizer that they could use to develop a synthetic cognate once the sick had all been treated.

Getting their hands on that root was one-hundred percent of the reason that Voltron was still in this system even though lingering like this always had the potential of drawing Galra battlecruisers to vulnerable systems.

“We’re working on it,” Lana assured her. “The Princess is making contact with the Appaxi to negotiate exports, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll brave the flesh-eating spiders and harvest the roots ourselves.”

Arti blinked, and her ears flicked back in clear agitation.

“The Appaxi? You’re really going to negotiate with those frilling…erm, thems?”

“I mean, yeah, if we can,” Lana said, wondering if there was bad-blood between Nex and Pax.

That really would be just their luck.

“Is there some reason why we shouldn’t?” she asked.

“Noooo,” Arti answered, drawing the vowel out into a low trill. “Not exactly? Well, maybe…”

“You’re the picture of clarity here, squirt,” Lana huffed. “Which is it? Yes, no or maybe?”

“Mmm, thinking about it, probably maybe,” Arti said. “Yes. It is maybe not the best idea for Voltron to go to Pax.”

“Why’s that?” said Lana. “I mean the Princess mentioned that their customs can be a little much for off-worlders but there’s worse things than a little awkwardness.”

“It’s not that,” Arti said. “Nex has sent ambassadors in the past, of course, the Appaxi are our nearest neighbours, and it has always been challenging to deal with their practices. But no, the last ambassador from Nex left the planet a few years ago when the Omega Imperia, Darthuy, came into power and mother says that a new ambassador will not be sent until she is no longer in power.”

“Did she happen to mention why?” Lana asked.

“The new Omega Imperia doesn’t _like_ alphas,” Arti said quietly. “On Appaxi alphas have never been powerful, but in the past four years it’s become particularly bad. Darthuy disdains the alpha dynamic, she won’t want to get involved with the alphas of Voltron, and if she’s heard about the Champion…”

Arti did that thing where all the thin silvery fur on her body rippled, like a horse shaking off a cloud of flies.

“Well, if it helps, I’m going to be the one front and centre doing the negotiating,” Lana said, her voice high and strained with an edge of hysteria.

Arti, thank quiznack, didn’t seem to notice though.

“That’s good,” she was saying instead, nodding her approval. “You smell very good for an omega and I’m sure the alphas of Voltron would be glad to mate you.”

“They aren’t going to _mate_ me,” Lana squawked, flushing.

“A pity,” sighed Arti. “Your offspring would be cute, I bet. Like little golden yalmors.”

“You have been spending way too much time with Coran,” Lana accused, sputtering, unable to even touch on the idea of _offspring_. “We don’t look anything like yalmors.”

“But you’re all so cute! All protective like a little pack—”

“I’m hanging up now!”

Arti giggled, clearly pleased with herself.

“I will call you in a movement to see how it comes, if you have not yet returned to Nex,” she said. “Perhaps by then you will have seen the benefits of giving me Terran offspring to cuddle.”

“Goodnight, Arti,” Lana said pointedly, ending the call.

Fucking yalmors.

Lana found it a little bemusing that Arti was the one with cuddly fur, cute ears and big gem-coloured eyes but it was somehow Lana’s imaginary babies that were being turned into the space equivalent of puppies.

Maybe if she banged Keith, and their kid got fluffy purple Galra ears…

“Okay, nope,” Lana said, glaring down at her uterus. “We are shutting that train of thought down right now.”

That way lay madness and early heats and crying alone into a pint of frozen space-goo because her hormones were pushy little bitches.

Besides it was past time she found Coran. Arti’s call, as diverting as it had been, had reminded her. It wasn’t just the team that was counting on her. Hundreds of thousands of Nexians would be saved by this drug, including Arti.

She needed this mission to be a success.

No screw-ups. No selfishness. No fooling around.

Lana gave herself a firm nod and headed for the elevator bank.

* * *

Despite being entirely digitized the Castle’s records’ room gave off the same feeling as a grand old library. Filled with neatly labelled data stacks and even the occasional hand-written record or ancient blue-print on crinkled flimsi-plast it was a untapped trove of knowledge about the galaxy.

Maybe it was a little out-dated, considering the ten-thousand-year power-nap that Allura and Coran had suffered, but it was still one of the most comprehensive databases outside the Galra Empire.

Coran was right where she expected to find him, tugging at the ends of his moustache and scrolling through six different holos of Altean text.

“Ah, there you are Number four!” he said, looking up when she tapped on the nearest shelf to announce herself. “I expected you dobashes ago!”

“I got a call from Arti,” Lana said.

“Ah, and how is the little peblum?”

“Doing good so far,” Lana said. “No visible symptoms over the transmission, and she was in good spirits.”

“Good, that’s good,” said Coran. “And all the more reason to get this mission over and done with in a few good ticks!”

Lana nodded, her expression set.

“What were you able to find Coran?”

“Well, there’s some good news and some bad news,” he said. “The good news is that there’s a full accounting of the Altean petition to the Appaxi, obviously it’s out of date but from what I’ve been able to cross reference the court practices haven’t changed too drastically.”

“Sex is sex everywhere, I guess,” Lana pointed out. “There’s only so many ways to get it on.”

“The Appaxi put great deal of emphasis on the importance of demonstrating attachment. Jealousy, desire, possessiveness, control, loyalty – to much or not enough of any of it and the whole dance falls apart and that’s when people get hurt.”

“And by people, you mean alphas,” Lana said.

Coran hummed, “That wasn’t always the case, but the most recent reports are suggesting a more extremist shift in the Appaxi culture.”

“Arti was saying something similar,” Lana mused. “That the Omega Imperia just doesn’t like alphas.”

“I couldn’t tell you for certain but I do know she in the only monarch to take a single alpha consort,” Coran said. “I think there’s a holovid here give me a tick—”

On one of the viewscreens the text flickered off and in its place was a pair of tall humanoid aliens, blue-grey in coloring with amber eyes and four digits on their long hands and feet. The omega was beautiful, lithe and dressed in silks and paints with nothing but an intricately beaded necklace to cover her breasts. Her alpha was equally striking, and equally unclothed, lounging at the foot of the throne.

He put Lana in mind of big sleepy cat, particularly with those cold amber eyes.

“See how big that area is? Now Imperia Darthuy’s seven-times great-grand-matriarch had a harem of twelve very virile alphas and by all reports and the hall was designed to support the, er, excesses of their public couplings,” Coran explained. “You can see here how the entire hall is covered with a soft, pliable easy to clean silicate compound and the alcoves are designed for lounging in the illusion of privacy, except here in the centre dais where the presentations are done nightly.”

“Great, presentations,” Lana said. “Those sound important.”

“I’d imagine those will be the most uncomfortable for you and your fellow Paladins,” Coran said, tugging on the end of his moustache. “It’s the only aspect of court etiquette required by off-world emissaries. The presentation is all about control. You can perform any display you like provided it’s timely, but at the end of the display the omega or omegas participating must be, er, well, _perceptibly_ roused. Once the display is over the Omega Imperia will have her consort, er, _check_ the situation.”

Which, reading between the lines meant that not only was she going to have to let her team get her riled up and slick in front of a room full of strangers, embarrassing but as Lana was all-too aware very doable.

Only after she was all hot and slick she was going to have to pull away from her teammates and let a strange alpha scent and possibly touch her. Much less doable.

And to think this mission just kept on getting better and better.

“It’s gotta be pure torture, for an alpha to hand off their wet and willing omega to be touched and scented by an outside alpha.”

“Yes, I get the sense that’s where the control aspect comes into play, as I understand it,” Coran said. “The omega needs to be pleased and roused by their partner and the alpha needs to demonstrate an iron will. Those are the only acceptable parameters for participating in the court – if the omega cannot control the alpha, or if the alpha can’t please the omega the pair or group is found unworthy of the Omega Imperia’s consideration and barred from the court. Sometimes the pairs are forcibly separated.”

Lana sighed and scrubbed a hand through her hair irritably.

“This is going to be harder than I thought,” she murmured.

“But, on the bright side, the near-impossible strain on your natural instincts will make the gesture an indisputable statement of power and will to the Appaxi!” Coran said with his usual cheer. “A perfect demonstration of the might and civility of the Terran humans and the Paladins of Voltron!”

“Quiznack,” Lana said, choking on a slightly hysterical laugh. “We’re going to need to practice this. There’s no chance that Keith and Pidge will be able to hold onto their shit if we do this in public for the first time. They’re both too in-tune with their inner alpha mojo. Hell, Keith is the _Red Paladin_ , he’s literally the Altean dictionary definition of instinctive and unstable.”

“Ah, well,” said Coran, scratching sheepishly at the side of his face. “Something to bring up at the team meeting tonight – perhaps we can use this as an opportunity to further solidify the bonds of Voltron and you can finally ascend to the levels of synchrony and grace demonstrated by wild—”

“Yep, nope, I’m done,” Lana interrupted, turning on her heel and stuffing her fingers in her ears dramatically. “I’m going back to my room to be quietly traumatized and am ten thousand percent not willing to hear anything about yalmors!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hit me with a kudos if you liked or drop me a comment if you've got suggestions or questions~~


	3. Chapter 3

It was no use.

Pidge set down the comm she’d been fiddling with and said: “I am an idiot.”

“Are we talking about this, then?” Honey asked, not looking up from where she’s been working on the casing for the holster that Pidge has devised for their bayards.

“Why did I agree to that?” she moaned.

“So, we _are_ talking about this,” Honey confirmed. “This being the massive secret crush you have on Lana.”

“I should have put up more of a fight,” Pidge said. “I should’ve, right?”

“I mean, the public sex thing is pretty ick,” Honey said. “But somehow I get the feeling that’s not what you mean.”

“Everyone’s gonna _know_ ,” Pidge groaned, rubbing at her face under her glasses as if that would erase her mortification. “Shiro probably already knows, the perceptive, muscular bastard.”

“I think you might be overreacting here,” Honey said, holding her thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “Y’know, like, just a little. Like this much. Not so much, but, like, enough.”

Pidge pulled a face at her friend and partner in crime.

“Are you sure about that? Because I’m sure that I will literally die of mortification if Lana finds out about this, and then you won’t be able to form Voltron, the Galra will sweep across the Galaxy like locusts and the world will be doomed.”

“That escalated quickly,” Honey said, sanding away a rough edge, and eying her work critically. “Here, what do you think?”

Glad to be distracted Pidge took the casing from her and examined it critically.

It was a flat disk, about two inches in diameter and just curved enough to fit a data cell like the one from their armour.

“Is there enough room for me to slap a tracker in there?” she asked.

“Just the short-range ones,” Honey said. “Nothing that would do any good off planet.”

“It just has to breach the atmosphere to the Castleship,” Pidge said. “The rest of the sector is clear of Galra outposts and space-faring sentients. We’re not likely to get dragged off-planet even if one of us is kidnapped.”

“So comforting,” said Honey. “I am feeling so comforted right now, very safe.”

Pidge ignored the sarcasm.

“It’s pretty thin, is it durable?”

“I mean, I just tried smashing it with my mallet to test but we definitely won’t break it by accident.”

Pidge nodded.

“I’ll see if I can add a string of code to release the bayard if the cell is compromised. It’ll be tight but I think I can make everything fit.”

“You’re the computer whiz,” Honey said. “I just build things.”

Pidge snorted.

That was ten-thousand percent a lie. Honey might not have been as good at coding and programming as Pidge, but she was no slouch. Certainly, any tech-com team on Earth would’ve been able to run without a programming specialist if Honey was their engineer, and Pidge was fairly confident that the Galra would’ve been the same, if, y’know, they weren’t all speciest purple assholes. 

It was just that the Altean programming language was less a language and more of an art. Without Green’s help even Pidge, for all her genius, would’ve had a hard time picking up the pattern of it.

Still, Pidge was glad that Honey didn’t go around adding her own fingerprints to the code, it eased something tight and possessive in her to know that it was her modifications, her forethought and skill that was protecting their little pack.

The fact that Honey left her to it, kept her from having to snarl at the beta girl not to touch and stopped her from re-checking everything obsessively before they went out on missions. 

But that was for her to know and Honey to guess, and it didn’t mean that Pidge had to tolerate her teammate’s self-deprecating tendencies.

“Okay, so we have prototypes,” Honey said. “We’ll need to field test them.”

“Ugh, gladiator sims without armour.”

“I mean, will that be necessary? You think?”

“I mean we’re not going to be drawing on our bayards unless things go to shit,” Pidge said. “And if things go to shit on _that_ planet, we probably won’t be all that covered.”

“I wonder what we’re gonna wear,” said Honey. “We’ll have to synthesize stuff that blends, right? It’s that kind of mission.”

“Honey, I already hate this mission, you don’t need to make it worse,” said Pidge, scowling.

“Sorry, sorry. My bad,” she said. And then, after a long moment. “But, seriously, what are you gonna do about the whole Lana situation?”

“I don’t know?” groaned Pidge. “Not think about it?”

“Okay, yep, solid…but what if that doesn’t work?”

“What do you want me to say? This whole situation is messed up but it’s not like we’re doing this for fun, Honey, it’s a mission. My feelings don’t really come into it.”

“Except, it’s a mission, so they kind of do,” Honey said, wincing. “I’m sorry, I wouldn’t push if I thought you had a handle on it but, Pidge, you’re going to have to do intimate things with Lana. You’re not going to be able to act all prickly and standoffish. You’ve got to, you know, present, a united front. Like, you, Shiro, and Keith are all going to need to support Lana. You can’t be putting down her logic or her methods, or running away. It’s going to be the four of you, front and centre.”

“I know,” Pidge said.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think you do,” Honey said. “Like, I’ve formed Voltron with you guys. We’ve fought together. I know in my bones that we’re solid even when you four are snapping and snarling, but the Appaxi…I just, I don’t think doing what you guys usually do is gonna be cool on that planet.”

And Pidge…could see Honey’s point.

Their team’s go-to method of communication was a lot of teasing and trash-talk, all of them treaded a little more carefully around each other nowadays, now that they had had the chance to learn which buttons were and were not acceptable to push, but with Lana, it was particularly bad.

It was just, Lana had a big personality. And she shovelled so much shit on a daily basis and let everyone else’s retorts slide right off her.

Like water off a duck’s back or however that saying went.

Allura had pointed out to them a while back that she understood that this was somehow the most efficient method of communication and verbal bonding for them but that to most peoples observing their interactions they bickered like children and to please, _please_ , try to use some modicum of restraint around their allies.

On Pax, where alphas were expected to yield to omegas completely or suffer the consequences, literally none of their usual banter would fly. Even the tamer shit-talking was completely out. Storming off was a no, ignoring Lana was a no, and generally being a sarcastic misanthrope was a definite no.

Great. There went the entirety of Pidge’s personality. And Keith’s too, come to think of it. Except Keith could do stoic pretty well most of the time, as long as he wasn’t required to speak.

Katie “Pidge” Holt had never been stoic a day in her life. Her emotions were always right there on her face with irritation taking precedence over basically everything else.

“Great,” sighed Pidge, scrubbing a hand through her hair. “This mission is already off to a _fantastic_ start.”

“It might not be that bad,” Honey said.

“Seriously?” Pidge said, dry as dust.

“Well, I mean, you it’s not like you _don’t_ like Lana,” Honey pointed out, thankfully without bringing up how much Pidge _did_ , in fact, like Lana. “I just thought I’d, you know, mention that it might be better for everyone if you used this whole mission as an excuse to, kind of, lavish some of that affection on her without rousing anyone’s suspicions.”

And there she went again.

But. Well. Honey wasn’t wrong. There was probably never going to be a better chance to just be good to Lana without raising anyone’s eyebrows.

“Like, what? How?” asked Pidge, the words falling out of her mouth, awkward and disjointed.

“Like, touching her, cuddling her, giving her scent-marks, appreciating her, maybe even verbally,” suggested Honey, rolling her eyes like she couldn’t believe she had to spell this shit out.

So, Pidge was emotionally constipated. So, sue her. Every other member of this team besides Honey was just as bad. Even Lana and Shiro. For all their unnatural perceptiveness when it came to sussing out other people’s feelings, they were surprisingly oblivious to their own bullshit.

Pidge sighed again. She was twenty-six years old. Technically, as the oldest, she should be the most mature about…this whole thing, probably.

It was just…

Empirical evidence gathered over the course of her failed relationships suggested that omegas like Lana didn’t go for alphas like her. Sure, she might reel in one that was curious about femme alphas or who was down to spend a rut with her, but never for a relationship.

She fell somewhere in a no-man’s-land of too much and not enough for people. And mostly she was fine with that. It was just that Lana drew people in with her peculiar gravity, and Pidge was weak to that kind of thing, okay, plenty of people were.

But Pidge was supposed to be above all that.

If Lana found out that she was just as charmed as all the other alphas she left sighing in her wake Pidge would never hear the end of it. Would never be able to retreat behind that shield of indifference again.

She really wasn’t ready for that.

Judging by the way her heart squeezed and her stomach flipped at the thought, she was a long way away from being ready for that.

But maybe she could, under the cover of mission parameters, just have a little taste if what it might be like. If things were different.

“Maybe,” Pidge grunted at Honey, realizing she’d been quiet way too long. “I’ll just, take my cues from Keith and Shiro, that’s probably safest.”

“Yeah,” said Honey dryly. “Cause those two have their shit together.”

* * *

Keith dodged the weapon of the nearest gladiator, propelling himself off the wall for the momentum and tried to ignore how it felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.

Focus on the fight, he reminded himself, dodging a swing that would have broken his nose and taking a strike at the next gladiator’s open back in retaliation.

It wasn’t quite a lethal hit, but the gladiator reeled back and collapsed leaving Keith free to deal with its partner.

The clash of their training staffs rang out, rhythmic and violent, in the quiet of the training deck and Keith felt his breathing leveling out to match with that rhythm the longer he fought.

So, he just, kept going.

He let himself be drawn in to the give and take of their rhythm as they circled the room, moving more by instinct than any particular fighting pattern.

Which was probably why he was so startled to hear Shiro shout: “End training sequence!” and hear the second gladiator coming to an abrupt halt behind him.

“Shit,” Keith breathed.

He was breathing hard and drenched in sweat. He glanced up at the time on the holo tallying his stats. He’d been fighting for thirty-one dobashes.

“It’s not like you to be taken by surprise,” Shiro said, coming further onto the mats. “Something on your mind?”

Keith barely resisted the urge to give Shiro his brattiest most incredulous look, because Shiro _knew_ what was on his mind. It was on all their minds, probably. The mission.

 _Public_ sex acts.

Public _sex_ acts.

_Public sex acts._

In front of people. Sex. Him.

With people watching him. Judging him.

With Lana McClain watching and judging him and probably never shutting up about his performance ever again.

“Okay,” said Shiro, hands on his hips. “I can hear you freaking out, in there.”

“How are you not?” Keith demanded, for lack of anything better to say.

Of course, he knew why Shiro wasn’t freaking out.

One, this whole situation was for the mission and Shiro would ignore any discomfort any pain and all inconveniences for the mission. Compared to the time that Shiro had orchestrated a three varga fighting retreat with a back full of shrapnel this was probably nothing.

Two, Shiro was probably great in bed.

Shit, he was probably fantastic in bed.

Shiro was just one of those people who believed that if you were going to do anything you should do it well. Sex wouldn’t be any different. He probably knew exactly what to do and how to act and Lana already _wanted_ him often enough that Shiro had probably smelled it. Knew about it. It wasn’t like she was shy in her appreciation.

Keith on the other hand…

“I know it’s not a great situation, but we’re all friends and professionals, with a little luck and a lot of communication I think we’ll be able to ride this out with a minimum of embarrassment.”

Keith didn’t know what his face was doing but Shiro blushed a little.

“I mean it’s Lana,” he said, just a touch defensive. “She won’t let us make it weird.”

“Maybe not you,” Keith said. “She actually gets along with you.”

Shiro shrugged a little bit.

“I mean, our relationship is a little less…combative…but I don’t think she’s interested in giving any of us a hard time,” he said. And then, after a pause. “I mean, metaphorically, hard time. I mean, you know what I mean.”

A hard time.

Fuck.

Keith was going to have to exist in Lana’s general vicinity with a boner, probably.

And also…

“Maybe, possibly, if she’s feeling merciful Lana won’t mention this every quintant for the next _forever_ , and maybe, if she’s feeling under the weather Pidge won’t immediately capture every embarrassing moment on film for future blackmail,” Keith acknowledged. “But we’re not going to be the only one’s involved in this, Shiro, the entire court of Pax is going to be watching us.”

Judging them.

Lana and Shiro were both probably excellent at sex. They’d be fine.

Pidge had probably transcended all embarrassment before he’d even met her, Keith had never even seen her blush. But Keith? Keith was not great at the whole sex and dynamic thing.

In fact, he’s pretty sure that he’s terrible at sex.

He’s one hundred percent positive that he’s terrible at pleasing omegas.

Unbidden, the memory of Myla – her bronze skin stark and bare against the white of his sheets, ducking down to pick up her shirt and jeans and scrambling past him into the bathroom to dress, while he tried to find the words to ask if she’d maybe like to stay – flashes to the forefront of his brain before he can tamp it all back down.

He hasn’t thought of Myla in…a really long time. But he’d thought, before they’d slept together anyway, that maybe they’d had something special.

It was lucky he’d gotten his acceptance into the Garrison not long after that because watching her pull away after they’d been getting so close had been hard.

He was reluctant to call it heartbreak because it was nothing compared to what Shiro and Adam had gone through in the messy tail-end of their relationship, but it was something equally raw and painful.

Some hope that he could have this one aspect of his life be normal had broken apart and fallen away after Myla.

After that first time he was more careful, letting his partners set their pace, but it was like they could all sense that crack in him. The parts of him that made him different.

Maybe the sex was just that bad.

He couldn’t really tell.

He hoped not.

He always tried not to get carried away. Never partnered up for his ruts where he had zero patience and even less control. But no matter how careful he was it never seemed to matter.

But he’d had the thought, lately, when he’d bothered to think of such things at all, that maybe there was something in his scent or pheromones or instincts that was too _Galra_. Too other for sweet-smelling full-human omegas and betas to tolerate.

In the case of other alphas, of course, he’d always been the one who couldn’t tolerate them.

Shiro had been the only alpha he’d ever been friends with until Pidge had come along, and Keith was pretty sure that those two were just, the only exceptions to that rule.

It was nice, having alpha friends and teammates. There were some things betas and omegas just didn’t get after all, and it was nice to have people who knew what he was thinking without him having to try and explain the instincts driving his irrational behaviour.

It soothed the ache of insecurity in his chest being on good terms with them, and Honey and Allura and even Lana. Finally. Since, she stopped bristling at him every time he opened his mouth.

More than anything he worried that this mission, seeing him in this context, will uncover the broken bits of himself that are only good for driving people away.

“I get it,” said Shiro. “It’s more than just uncomfortable, it’s making what should be a private, intimate act performative. It’s opening a vulnerable part of ourselves up to the judgement of strangers. All of us are feeling a little…discomfited.”

“Yeah,” snorted Keith. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“Just try an remember that we’re a strong team. You already truth us with your life, do you think we would be any less careful with your body?”

Keith felt the heat creeping up his face and neck but he was powerless to stop the incriminating spread.

“Please can we just, not, talk about this anymore?” Keith begged. “Help me beat level twenty-nine before dinner?”

“Alright, but you will have to talk about this at some point, Keith. Making sure everyone is on the same page is going to be the most important part of this mission.”

“I got it, Shiro,” said Keith. “I understand and I’ll deal. Just, leave it, for right now, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Great,” sighed Keith, rolling some of the tension out of his shoulders. “Computer—prep partner simulation – training level twenty-nine.”

He watched Shiro pick up a training baton and twirl it around his back, switching hands easily.

He could trust Shiro, he was sure. If there was anyone in the universe that he could trust it would be Shiro with the others not far behind, he knew that, it was just…

He shook his head to clear it of the thought and took a ready stance as the two gladiators, freshly repaired by the castle synthesizers, dropped down from the ceiling.

He’d think about it when he needed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing multiple POVs is hard...
> 
> anyway let me know what you guys think of this little peak into the Keith/Pidge brains!

**Author's Note:**

> i just needed scantily clad femega!Lance kicking ass and taking names while both hiding her crippling insecurities and falling into mutually unrequited love with her alpha teammates, okay - i also needed tooth-rotting lesbian hallura fluff and this is what happened
> 
> purely self-indulgent and i really don't expect much response but if you like it please do shoot me a comment or a kudos and lemme know!


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